Effectiveness of a language implementation project in building appreciation for formal specification

Authors:
Doug Baldwin
Affiliations:
SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY
Venue:
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges - Papers of the twelfth annual CCSC Northeastern Conference
Year:
2007

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Abstract

An intellectual "power tool" is a practice that dramatically simplifies certain problems, but that requires skill and preparation to use effectively. Teaching "power tools" in conjunction with substantial "real-world" projects is a popular way to awaken students to the importance of "power tools." This paper describes an effort to measure the extent, if any, to which such a project really increased students' appreciation for a particular "power tool." The project in question comes from a theory of programming languages course, and uses formal specifications as a "power tool" for language implementation. Surveys conducted before and after the project suggest that it did indeed increase students' appreciation for mathematical specifications.